surplus, will poke a hole in the juggernaut of the gathering clouds and shine a little light on the school district. the children of san francisco, the members of the united educators of san francisco, and the school community of what phil and his office for the work that they have done in san francisco. because here, we see the san francisco values are more than just lip service. but our real and mean providing the resources to take care of our children. this is why we are pleased to be here. we thank filled for his efforts. -- we thank phil for his efforts. >> [speaking spanish]

>> my name is chris martinez. i am translating. she said good afternoon. -- my name is grace martinez. she said she is a child at the heart and a member of days. -- child at brett hart and member of grace. "my concern are all the cuts that have affected our schools." >> [speaking spanish] >> it is necessary that we find funds for education and to improve services for our

families. we need to be able to work and have the capacity to have good working jobs. thank you very much. >> good afternoon. i am the political action share for seiu local 1021 and a nonprofit worker here in san francisco. we represent workers, rn's and other health-care providers in community clinics and in general hospitals. we represent the classified nutrition workers and the school secretaries and the folks that keep your schools clean. we also represent many of the nonprofits, especially supportive housing and mental health care. this is, for us, the third year of straight cuts in a row. we see things in san francisco that we have not seen before.

we see recreation programs close, parks locked up during the day, basic city services take longer. lines are longer. and because of layoffs and freezing of front-line positions. workers in both nonprofit and the public sector have given out of their paycheck over and over again to try to help close these deficits, and it has been devastating. our family programs, youth violence prevention, aid services, and supportive housing. it is exciting to think that there is other ways of dealing with the budget deficit, not just cuts. there is actually weighs, and thanks to phil tin's leadership and the hard work of this office, we are able to see that being aggressive in a collection of existing revenues is also a way that we can look at the budget, and it has given a lot of hope to our workers. it has given a lot of hope to

people who are very concerned and scared in these times of budget. it proves that the good work and education of this office has brought a lot of hope to education workers and people who rely on these services. we hope to continue to work together. thank you. >> thank you. i think you heard that the money that we bring is so critical to make sure that classroom sizes can still be maintained, that teachers can stay in classrooms instead of being sent to the streets, that health glasses can continue to be open, and parents relying on these critical city dollars can really read some of the benefit. one thing we do -- i do want to make sure you all know -- is going into next year's budget, which we hope will be approved by the board is we are asking -- we got from the mayor and additional 15 people on a temporary basis to come in and

help to continue to clear up the rest of our backlog. we were hoping that by bringing in this team that we were able to do an additional $30 million that is already in the budget, so it is additional from when we first started our budget discussions a few months ago, and by bringing in this team, we will hopefully be able to reap significant benefits. all these numbers are already factored into the budget, so it -- there is no additional money that the mayor released, but instead of cutting that $30 million, instead of laying off people, we are able to keep those services whole and keep going. i think it is so critical. i think the people who should be thanked are the hard work and staff of this office. let me just stop here for a second and see if we have any questions.

>> [inaudible] >> great question. this year, we went in with a conservative number, given the fact that we thought the market was really not in a very good place. we also anticipated that we were going to spend almost all of our time doing appeals. part of it is as we were doing appeals, we looked at what types of revenue we were leaving on the table. about halfway through, i redirected the office and said even if it means pushing off some of the appeals to next year, we have to make sure we're bringing this money for the city budget. part of it was a slight redirection of staff this year and also the fact that there was actually more stuff anticipated in back -- in that. >> [inaudible] >> the way it goes is just what any city and county, with the county brings in money, part of it will go into all the

different cities, and part of it goes to the state. we get roughly about 57% of the money, and the rest goes to the state. san francisco unified -- their money is part of that state part of money. even though in theory it is going to the state, it is coming back to the city. the cost of the additional workers, my recollection -- i think it is under $1 million. the city spends $1 million to go get $30 million. it is a pretty good return. even wall street would think that. >> [inaudible] >> the beginning of the year, yes, that is right. >> [inaudible]

>> i think the nine-month report was -- i will have to go back and double check, but i think it was, like, $55 million. but we can get that. yes. we are very happy because part of the reason there's a little bit of lag time is we do the assessments, and the other side is the one who collects the money. part of it is making sure we are constantly seeking up, and we are ecstatic that we can help cut out almost 20% of the $300 million deficit, save a lot of jobs. great. the only thing i was going to say was [inaudible] oh, yes. the only thing i would hold out is obviously, we have worked about 12,000 appeals this year,

but we did hand out a chart of all the appeal still remaining. i think we still have about 6000 appeals still left. that is going to require a lot of time. the reason why this is important to note is that if we do not challenge the appeals, then the city would automatically lose all that money. it is tens of hundreds of -- potentially millions of dollars of tax revenue that we could be losing. we always make sure that we are constantly looking at that and making sure that everybody turn in their fair share to make sure that assessment is accurate. we still have about 6000 appeals left right now. >> [inaudible] >> we have two years to work the appeals. we anticipate getting most of these done this year, but there will still be more to get the next year. great. thank you so much for being here, and thank you for [inaudible]

>> good morning, everyone. welcome to the beautiful and quiet powell street, here in downtown san francisco. i am the director of public works. i am delighted to see all of you here today. we are here for a special occasion, a special group of folks that i want to introduce before we get going. starting to your far lesft, border supervisor david chiu. sitting next to him, the mayor of our great city, and elite. -- ed lee.

[applause] the chief marketing officer for audi america, organizer of this event. [applause] the man whose design we will be enjoying, walter hood. and finally, the director of the business improvement district. [applause] here in san francisco, on a beautiful, sunny day, it is time to celebrate the innovative spirit of san francisco. we innovate social policy, housing, the environment, on transportation and technology. we innovate when it comes to the weather. we call this summer, here in san francisco.

and when it comes to the public way, it is hard to think about innovation. it was billed years ago and it is hard to change, at least that is what some people think. although much of the public rights of way in san francisco take up 25% of our city, they were built generations ago, in a different time to serve different needs with different sensibilities, largely built for people to pass through, as opposed to being in. we are changing that in the city and we are showing that the environment can change for the better. what we have here today is an exemplar of that. i will let the other speakers tell you more specifically what we are talking about today, but i want to thank some of the folks, besides those up on the stage, who have been a part of making this happen.

i will start with the shepherd of this project from the planning department, andres power. [applause] without his work, no question, from navigating the city bureaucracy, working with the city planner, public, this would not have happened without his efforts. from my department, his counterpart, nick ellser. from the mayor's office of workforce development, the mother of our communities in our town, lisa pegan. and the guy from the mta who gets all the difficult job of figuring out how all this all works, jerry robbins. those are the folks on the city side.

there are a lot of other folks to thank, a lot of other work that went into this. but now, it is my pleasure -- this man was progressive before it was cool to be progressive, and he was innovating in the public rights of way before it was cool. as a public works director, he started addressing alleyways in chinatown, in the tenderloin, making them more attractive and welcoming, improving the public realm all over the city. he has since moved on to bigger and better things but has carried that affect on with him, forcing collaboration between city departments, the private sector, and this is the epitome of the kind of partnership that edwin lee is bringing to the city.

it is my pleasure to introduce to you mayor ed lee. [applause] >> good morning, everybody. welcome to union square. one of my favorite places. you may know this, but two- thirds of our annual visitors make their way down here to union square. that is why 10% of our annual sales tax revenue comes from right here. people love coming here, and why not? why not link the historic cable car stop on market street, and make the experience of making up here -- making it up here and the rest of the city and experience. one of the things that i love is we get to collaborate between our planning department, mta, department of public works, working with the private sector.

working with some fantastic designers, like walter, and his fantastic design studio. and gaining the confidence of the people who protect this gem of the city, the business improvement district in union square. i want to thank everyone for coming together and blessing, with the contribution from audi of america, coming together to make these couple of blocks even better, to modernize it, make it even more welcoming, and to make sure that it is people-friendly in every respect. i want to give a shout out to all of these departments because we are seldom recognized. collaboration is often behind the scenes, but this is out in front for everybody. i want people to get excited about the friendliness of this

street, but you are doing to try to change the feeling here, make sure that the experience invites even more people to enjoy union square, powell street, the cable car experience. i also want to recognize the police department. as we transition this landscape, they are going to keep everyone safe, make sure we all have the opportunity to enjoy it. i want to thank everyone for this collaboration. so happy to be part of this. and also to make sure that we are investing and renewing every part of our city, to make sure that the tourists enjoy this area, and even people like ourselves -- those of us now live in the city -- will love it even more. this will benefit everybody. i also want to introduce another champion, someone that i have worked with closely this past year, who has led a very

positive dialogue. that is our board president, president david chiu. [applause] >> thank you, mr. mayor. i want to welcome everyone to what mark twain calls a classic summer day in san francisco. i am proud to be here as part of this announcement, and i am here on behalf of my colleague jane kim, who is stuck in city hall. the two of us have the honor of representing the number one place in san francisco where people come to shop, and hello to everyone on the cable cars, spend time in our incredible city. this is an announcement of how we build 21st century city -- cities, how we can create communities on very busy dance streets. we know it takes a village to create a parklet.

i want to thank the city department for being our partners. dpw, oewd, mta -- these acronyms refer to organizations and thousands of hours done to come up with this. three years ago, when i first came into office, a number of merchants from union square came to me and said, david, we would like to tax ourselves more. we would like to triple the size of the business improvement district. today's announcement is part of that portion of that amazing vision. i want to thank the in square business improvement district for everything you are doing to make union square one of the best attractions that san francisco has to offer.

and of course, in closing, one of the most amazing aspects of this partnership happens to be our partnership with the private sector. we could not do this without the generosity of an amazing car company. i do hope in addition to seeing the audi symbol here, i do hope that we see more of them traveling through the city, so feel free to donate any, if you would like. we look forward to continuing this green, clean, community- based transformation that we are undertaking, here in san francisco. have a wonderful day. >> before i introduce our next speaker, i want to make sure to recognize the very important person on the stage as well. wayne is our ambassador here. he is in bright red.

as you know, the business improvement district has been spared in making sure that not only are people safe, but that they are treated well when they come here. that is what keeps the economy going. as david said earlier, audi is a pretty special company. scott, i want to let you know, too, i am jazzed about that car that i want which appeared in the "ironman" movie. when i saw it i said, i want that kind of car. not only does audi have great style and a great corporate image, but they are a fantastic partner. let me introduce scott of audi

of america. [applause] >> it is a great pleasure for me to be here. i am the chief marketing officer for audi of america. it is crucial for companies, not only to celebrate things, but it is also important to do great things. whether you look at the racetracks up le mans, our electronic research lab, here in palo alto, or on the streets of san francisco, it is important to do great things. of course, the concept that our design and technology can have far reaching ramifications. we spend billions of dollars in research and development, and i think you see a lot of those elements in this design. when we first started making cars out of aluminum frames, they said we were crazy.

it turns out, aluminum is stronger and less weight. i think you will get a good sense of that design here. led lighting. people said it was madness to use them in cars. now you see it in every one of our cars and being imitated everywhere. the beautiful lines of our cars, walter had done a great job recreating that a static. and most importantly, wi-fi. -- recreating that aesthetic. the ideals of audi were brought here to this, not. i am very thankful to be here. this is why it means so much to us. now i want to introduce david,

the group president of the business improvement district, here in union square. again, sincere thanks. >> thank you, scott. on behalf of the union square business improvement district, property owners, and the businesses, i would like to thank mayor lee, supervisor david chiu, the city departments, the san francisco municipal transportation agency, and audi of america, and a special thank you to those who supported this trend for this project. when we embark on this new project, it reminded us of where we have been and where we are going in union square. 164 years ago, jasper overall, who has a street named after him one week away, was commissioned by the city to lay out a design

for its streets and parks, including union square. the park's design was designed to be infighting, accessible, beautiful, and memorable. today, architect walter put has applied those same qualities beautifully to the powell street promenade with a contemporary landscape design with features and heard of, like solar technology and wi-fi. o'farrell may not have imagined at the time that 100,000 people would use this street every weekend, making it the busiest city corridor. now with this promenade, it will be one of the best places to enjoy the hustle and bustle of the city, out of its hustle and bustle by working with the city, audi, and union square business improvemen